A Seminar for Distributive Education Program Development Through Teacher Education. Final Report.

Haines, Peter G.; Rowe, Kenneth L.

A 1-week national seminar was conducted in May 1967 (one section at Michigan State, one at Arizona State) for 52 educators and researchers responsible for designing and administering training programs for teachers in the field of marketing and distribution. The major objective was to broaden participant understanding of the project method of instruction (a method which does not rely on the cooperative laboratory as an instruction vehicle) and its demands concerning preservice and inservice teacher education programs. Guest lecturers presented papers on several themes: Perspectives in Program Development in Distributive Education; Nature and Theory of the Project Method; Managing and Controlling Learning Experiences in the Classroom; Teacher Behavior in the Project Classroom; and Gearing Up Teacher Education Programs for Project Instruction. Small Task force groups of participants discussed the concepts and produced reports on implications for two areas of need: school and classroom, and teacher education. The papers and task force reports are contained in three seminar publications: one is a series of readings on the project plan in distributive education; the others are guidelines for implementing the plan in schools and through teacher education. (Included are discussion of a series of impacts the seminar has had on the profession--as evaluated 15 months later--and recommendations of the directors regarding continued efforts.) (JS)